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Article

David Cressy

Publication History:

Published online:

28 September 2006

Bowker, Agnes (b. 1541/2), servant and alleged mother of a cat, was the daughter of Henry Bowker, a yeoman or butcher of Market Harborough, Leicestershire, and suffered from fits of 'the falling sickness' or epilepsy. Although she described being once sent to live in ...

Publication History:

Article

Simon Fowler

Publication History:

Published online:

24 May 2012

Cakebread, Jane (1827/1828–1898), inebriate and subject of medical enquiry, was born in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, the daughter of James Cakebread (1783/4–1852), a carpenter and carter originally from Clavering, Essex, and his wife, Susan (1793/4–1863) of Sawbridgeworth. The eldest surviving daughter in a large family, ...

Article

Matt Houlbrook

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

Higgins, Terrence Lionel Seymour (1945–1982), first publicly identified AIDS victim in the United Kingdom, was born on 10 June 1945 in Priory Mount Hospital, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, the son of Marjorie Irene Higgins (formerly Phillips), a railway porter in Haverfordwest. Remembered through the manner of his death, and the work of the trust that bears his name, the life of ...

Article

Henry Summerson

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

Kemp [Kempe], William (1554/5–1628), landowner and sufferer from melancholia, was the eldest son of Robert Kemp of Spain's Hall, Finchingfield, Essex, and his wife, Elizabeth Heigham. He had at least two younger brothers and two sisters. Under a contract dated 10 October 1588 he married ...

Article

Jane Shaw

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

Maillard [married name Briel], Marie (1680–1731), beneficiary of miraculous healing, was born in Cognac, St Ouge, France, on 25 September 1680. A Huguenot, in 1689 she escaped from persecution in France with her parents, John Maillard, a sword-cutler, and Charlotte du Dognon...

Article

Gordon Goodwin

revised by H. C. G. Matthew

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

M'Avoy, Margaret (1800–1820), impostor, was born at Liverpool of respectable parentage on 28 June 1800. Of sickly constitution, she appeared to become totally blind in June 1816. Her case attracted considerable contemporary attention from the readiness with which she was alleged to distinguish, by touch, colours of cloth, silk, and stained glass. She could also accurately describe the height, dress, bearing, and other characteristics of her visitors, and even decipher letters in a printed book or manuscript with her fingers' ends, so as to be able to read with tolerable fluency. ...

Article

Richard Moran

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

McNaughtan [McNaghten], Daniel (1802/3–1865), criminal lunatic, born in Scotland (probably in Glasgow), was a wood-turner and political radical in Glasgow prior to the events of 20 January 1843 which earned him a place in the legal history of the plea of insanity, as the eponymist of the ...

Article

Peter Osborne

Publication History:

Published in print:

23 September 2004

Published online:

23 September 2004

Merrick, Joseph Carey [called the Elephant Man] (1862–1890), freak show novelty and medical curiosity, was born at 50 Lee Street, Leicester, on 5 August 1862, the elder son (there was also a daughter) of Joseph Rockley Merrick (b. 1835/6), a warehouseman and machine operator in a cotton factory, and ...

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